In an amplified optical communication link, such as an Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) amplified Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical link, the action of adding and/or deleting channels can cause power disturbance on the existing or remaining channels. This power disturbance may lead to system performance degradation, for example as Optical Signal-to-Noise Ratio (OSNR) degradation and/or nonlinear effects in optical fibers, and receiver power change. To limit the size or extent of this power disturbance, the number of channels that are added and/or deleted at once (in one step) is relatively small, usually one channel at a time. Further, in the case of adding a channel, the channel power is not brought up to its final target power level in one step. Instead, the channel power is brought to a level that is several decibels (dBs) below its final target, and then adjusted to the target in subsequent optimization steps. Sometimes the bit error ratios (BER) of all the in-service channels are monitored to avoid substantial drop in performance. Such measures make the channel add/delete operation substantially time consuming. For example, it may take several hours to add/delete a relatively large number of channels, which may not be feasible.